Todos Santos: The Survivors

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Demonstrates how the political turmoil of the 1980s affected this once quiet Guatemalan village.

After five years of traumatic bloodshed and political violence in Guatemala, filmmaker Olivia Carrescia returns to look at the dramatic situation of the village she had documented in TODOS SANTOS CUCHUMATAN and its struggle to survive and maintain its cultural identity against a background of economic hardships, social and religious change, and violence between the army and guerilla forces for control of the area.

TODOS SANTOS: THE SURVIVORS goes on to demonstrate how the political turmoil affected this once quiet community. Farming and seasonal migration patterns have been altered. Many have fled to Guatemala City, while others are refugees in Mexico. The remaining males aged 15 to 60 are forced into civilian patrols as part of the army's counter-insurgency plan. Villagers who once spoke freely with outsiders are now afraid to talk at all.

A haunting look underneath the silence which blankets much of Guatemala today, TODOS SANTOS: THE SURVIVORS documents the legacy of a bloody civil war, and the wounds that remain unhealed even after the guns have stopped firing.

'An excellent teaching tool for courses in sociology, anthropology or political science.'-Allan F Burns, Professor of Anthropology, University of Florida

'Something extremely rare in anthropological film... An unsual grasp of the forces which connect political brutality and social change.'- Elizabeth Weatherford, Curator, Film and Video Center, Museum of the American Indian

'A very moving experience... A very accurate description of what happened in the Guatemalan highlands during the 1980's.'- Arturo Arias, Guatemalan novelist